Etymologically
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peritus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [pɛˈriː.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [peˈriː.tus][1]

Forms

perītus (feminine perīta, neuter perītum, comparative perītior, superlative perītissimus, adverb perītē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is the participle of an unattested ⟨*perior⟩ “to try”, seen in experior.[2][3][1] The OLD compares Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial”), and de Vaan connects it with pariō and Proto-Indo-European *perh₃-, according to Wiktionary.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Ennius, with a genitive of the field of knowledge.[2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant having knowledge gained by experience, practised, expert, with a genitive, as in Ennius, or absolutely, as in Plautus.[2][5] In Cicero iūris perītus was a lawyer, a jurisconsult, and Cicero joins the learned and those ūsū perītī “skilled by practice”.[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant skilled, very learned, and as a noun an expert adviser, a perītus at a council.[7] It was borrowed into Italian and Spanish as perito, and English perite is also a borrowing.[1]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the skilled.[2][4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it absolutely.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses iūris perītus.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Experienced, practised, expert (in).[2]
  2. iūris perītus, expert in the law; as a noun, a jurisconsult.[2]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) As a noun, an expert adviser.[7]

Word family

  • experītus
  • imperītus
  • perītia
  • sēmiperītus
  • iūrisperītus
  • lēgisperītus
  • omniperītus
  • perītē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson